


Circuit Breaker

by KillehKiwi



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-04-01
Packaged: 2017-12-07 03:29:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/743675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillehKiwi/pseuds/KillehKiwi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Georgia McGuiness never wanted to be a hero, but when S.H.I.E.L.D approaches her for the third time, she knows she can't refuse. An engineer that makes it very clear that she doesn't want to be there, Georgia isn't exactly up for being a 'team player'. But when she meets a certain 'green rage monster', the technopath can't help but soften up. Bruce/OC</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

 

"And, Agent Hill." Nick Fury said, turning to his agent. She stood at attention, awaiting his orders.

"Yes, sir?" she inquired following Fury's hesitation.

"I need you to go after the last one. Originally, Agent Barton was assigned to her case, when he was still in his right mind. But since he is currently hypnotized, or whatever the hell that lunatic did to him, the responsibility is left to you." Fury continued, checking his watch. "Agent Romanoff is in India, I am going to be busy with Rogers, and Coulson is with Stark... and God knows how long that is going to take. You're the last one I trust enough."

"Of course, sir." she agreed immediately. "And, if I may speak freely... who is the 'last one'? Surely not another Avenger. S.H.I.E.L.D didn't assign anymore."

"We did." Fury snapped. "After the events in New Mexico... and with the new development plans in process, we added a last subject to the list. Somebody to help us with development and to either assist or fill in for Banner if he decided to refuse us."

"She lives in southern Germany, working as an engineer designated to furthering technology and finding clean power sources." he continued, holding out a jump drive with the woman in question's file stored on it. "Read over her file, then take a few men and have them drop you off. A vehicle will be waiting for you in Stuttgart. She's no Captain America, but I'm sure she'll prove to be a formidable foe. Granted that she has... resources.. handy." With that, Fury strode off to find his own hero.

* * *

 

Tony Stark grumbled to himself as he opened the file that Phil Coulson had dropped off for him. Holograms appeared around him, and he cocked his head in curiosity as he sifted through the files and profiles. He rested his chin in his hand as he turned, picking up the 'Tesseract' hologram and studying it.

"I'm already bored. Bring up the files that Coulson dropped off on the Avengers Initiative, Jarvis. I need to read over the file on one big, angry, green machine once more." he said, reading over Dr. Selvig's research on how the Tesseract emits low levels of gamma radiation.

The file was brought up, with pictures of Captain America and Bruce Banner coming up.

His interest was piqued when the photo of a woman popped up. She had dark, serious eyes, deep black hair, and a cold expression. Her name was written in white across the top of her photograph; Georgia McGuiness. He touched the file and opened it.

Inside there were two short paragraphs on the woman, basically explaining her abilities and brief background. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia.

"Wow. Her parents must have not liked her much." He said out loud to himself, finding it humorous that her parents would have named her after her own home state. He continued reading, learning that she achieved a Masters' Degrees in Engineering, and Science of Engineering. Tony cocked his head. There were so many types of engineering. It was strange that they didn't include what specifically she had studied.

The second, and last, paragraph consisted of a breakdown of her abilities. The article called her a 'technopath', having the ability to control, manipulate, and build with technology using only her mind. A few stipulations were included, such as the technology needed to at least have the ability to conduct an electrical current for her to be able to use it. Her name was added to the Avengers Initiative last.

That was it. The whole two paragraphs. Tony frowned as he searched through the rest of her file, but was only able to come up with the same picture of her looking coldly into the camera.

"Jarvis?" he said out loud as he continued to sift. "Find me more information on one 'Georgia McGuiness', would you?"

"Of course, sir." the Artificial Intelligence answered, and then after a brief pause said; "This would not have anything to do with making Ms. Potts jealous, now would it?" The AI sounded amused at the thought.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Of course not, Jarvis. I'm a curious man. And curious men find out things about possible 'Avengers' that S.H.I.E.L.D likes to hide from curious men." he answered.

"Very well, sir. I have compiled all available data into a file." Jarvis said, pulling it up as a hologram for Tony.

"Thanks, Jarvis." he murmured, and scanned the file, looking for any and all interesting tidbits about the woman.

When Tony came to information on McGuiness' education, his eyebrows shot up.

"Degrees in geotechnical engineering, computer engineering, control systems engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, engineering physics, mechanical engineering, software engineering, and systems engineering." he read aloud. "That S.H.I.E.L.D article sure didn't do her any justice, eh, Jarvis? She's almost as impressive as... well, me."

"But of course, she's not me. Does she have a multi-billion dollar company? Nooo. Does she have a cool supersuit? Noooo." Tony said sourly. "Unfair. Any history in heroics, Jarvis?" Tony asked when he got to the bottom of the article.

"None, sir. Ms. McGuiness studied at a college whose name I cannot find in any records, and is now working in southern Germany as an engineer, utilizing all of her talents into creating new, cleaner sources of energy and furthering studies in technology. This is as specific as any information on her is." Jarvis answered. "She has never created an alias with which to perform heroics."

Tony mused for a moment. "It seems strange that you can't find any school records regarding where she attended, hm? It seems as though S.H.I.E.L.D is trying to hide something about her. And when S.H.I.E.L.D wants to hide something... well it must be important to them. I don't like it, though."

"Well, sir, a 'technopath', as they are called, could be used for many things. Including, heaven forbid if she got into the wrong hands, aiding any enemy that S.H.I.E.L.D has. I imagine that she could possibly completely destroy any S.H.I.E.L.D technology. Including your suit, sir. Or your arc reactor."

Tony nodded. "Yes. I had thought of that. With this lunatic running around, S.H.I.E.L.D's gonna be frantic to keep her away from that Loki or any possible threat for that matter. That's possibly why information on her is so vague, S.H.I.E.L.D wants to keep everyone off of her trail except them." he said, shaking his head. "Can't wait to meet her."

* * *

 

_In Southern Germany..._

Georgia McGuiness was peeling off her labcoat as she entered her apartment. Her dark eyes scanned the room as she tossed the coat onto the chair and walked further into the living room.

She smelled the air suspiciously, the smell of burning was in the air. She followed the scent into the kitchen, and found the oatmeal from her breakfast on her stove, burning and smoking. She had forgot to turn off her stove in the rush to get into work this morning.

" _Um Gottes willen_!" she said in German angrily as she turned off the stove with an outstretched hand from the doorway. Her hand shot small, hot blue streaks of what could be classified as electricity at the stove. It powered down instantly. She took a few long strides to the stove and grasped the burning handle of the pot, throwing it into the sink and turning on the cold water. Steam poured off the pot and burned food as she inspected her hands.

" _Verdammt_." she muttered, but left the slight burns alone and stalked back into her living room.

"Sorry about that." a voice said from the window on the other side of her kitchen as Georgia reached the door. "I had to verify the claims."

Georgia turned swiftly, and her eyes settled on a uniformed woman leaning against the wall next to her. The light clicked on.

"A S.H.I.E.L.D agent. Wonderful." Georgia muttered, regarding the uniform with disdain before leaving the room. "I thought I made it quite clear to Nick Fury that I had no interest in helping you people."

"You have met him?" the agent said, and Georgia laughed without humor.

"Of course. I suppose he didn't supply you with that little detail." she said scornfully. "But as I've noticed, Nick Fury doesn't tell you people things very often. I've met the charming man twice. Both times, he's asked me to come and help S.H.I.E.L.D with either improving their technology or to research a new type of apparently 'limitless' energy that they've found. I must say, the second offer was quite intriguing. But because I don't fancy being in leagues with assassins and scientists, I once again refused. As I will today."

"Are you not a scientist as well?" the agent asked, following Georgia into the living room.

"No. I am an engineer. There's a difference, darling. They research. I create. Simple enough?" she said, mocking the younger girl a bit with her tone.

"Yes, ma'am." the agent said respectfully. She was required to recruit this woman, whatever it took. She was determined. She had gotten word that Natasha Romanoff was able to bring in Bruce Banner. She could clear her mission as well.

"My name is Maria Hill, and I am an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D as you already know." she said formally. "This has to do with the 'limitless' supply of energy that S.H.I.E.L.D has found and once had in their possession, named the Tesseract. A hostile by the name of Loki has captured it along with a few of our key members, including a very prestigious scientist who was doing extensive amounts of research on the Tesseract."

"What does any of this have to do with me?" Georgia demanded, interrupting the girl.

"S.H.I.E.L.D needs you, ma'am. We need you to help Dr. Bruce Banner track the Tesseract by means of gamma radiation and bring the power source back into S.H.I.E.L.D's possession before Loki uses it to take over the world." Maria continued.

"Gamma radiation? My knowledge on gamma rays is limited at best. I work with technology. Electricity, that I can help with. Computers, software, mechanics, those are what I know. Radiology is not of my practice. And as much as I'd simply love to help, I can't." Georgia snapped, crossing her bare arms with a frown.

"True, but nobody knows technology as well as you do." Agent Hill said, hoping to appeal to this woman's pride. "With your help, the process would be much quicker and more efficient. You would be back to your regular life in a more short amount of time. Without your help, the process could be must more difficult, or even prove to be impossible. The Avengers Initiative needs you."

Georgia eyed the girl suspiciously. "And I would never have to leave my 'regular life' if I refuse this, would I?" she said. "I could sit back and watch you guys do all the work. I don't do 'heroics'. I never have, and never will. I use my powers for recreational uses, only. I've never even thrown a punch. How could I be of use to you when it comes to 'avenging' and so forth?"

"We are prepared to help you train in basic levels of combat, in case you have any need of them. But as we said, your job would be to help us locate the Tesseract before any fighting has to come to pass." Maria explained.

Georgia thought for a moment. "I must refuse, Agent Hill. I honestly have no interest in helping you in any way. I would have to leave my very prestigious job. And for what? To create an alias as a 'super hero' and fight crime all day long?  _Durchaus nicht._  Let this guy take over the world, see if I care. It won't effect me. He might be the best leader yet." she said, expression cold as ice.

Maria frowned. "It most certainly will effect you. Loki will be a tyrant. And you know what happens when a tyrant takes over? The end of science. The end of progress. He won't allow us to create new ideas or technology in fear of uprising. You'll be forbidden to be an engineer. You'll be forced into submission, as far as we know." she said. "As a woman of science, you can't possibly like the sound of that."

Georgia scowled, finally seeming to consider. "If I agree, if. I want Nick Fury's personal word that he will not make me into one of his... lap dogs, I don't know. When and if I help you all get back this thing, and if I join S.H.I.E.L.D for a short period of time to 'save the world' and all that, I want a guarantee that I can come back to my old life and never be bothered with this again unless maybe the world's going to end. Clear?" she snapped.

Maria smiled softly. "Yes. I am sure Director Fury will agree to that." she said quickly, willing to promise anything.

Georgia rolled her eyes. " _Was zum teufel._  I'll help you out. But I want you to know that I'm not doing this from the 'goodness of my heart'. I feel no loyalty towards S.H.I.E.L.D. The only thing I want to do is get this over and done with." she said, moving closer and staring Maria right in the eye. She paused for a moment. "Well, if we're going, let's go!"

Maria Hill nodded, and led the way out the door. Georgia scowled as she followed behind.

* * *

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

 

Agent Maria Hill drove wildly through the streets of southern Germany, into the city of Stuttgart behind the wheel of a S.H.I.E.L.D issued vehicle. Georgia was gripping the seat harshly in fear that they would soon crash.

"Loki's in Stuttgart." she explained as she honked at a passing car. "We have to meet up with Agent Romanoff, she's our ride back."

"Lovely. Is she as swell of a driver as you are?" Georgia demanded. "Why do we need to go so fast, anyway? As far as I can tell, I imagine that he's not leaving Earth anytime soon."

"Because we have a chance to corner Loki early, which could lead to an even earlier return for you." Maria explained feverishly as she concentrated on driving.

Georgia's eyes lit up. "Well then! Why didn't you mention that earlier?" she said, and held out her hands. "Let's see what I can do."

She focused on the way the vehicle moved, following the transfer of power to the wheels. With a little flickering from her hands, she had the car going even faster down the roads of Stuttgart.

They arrived at the destination in no time, and Georgia spotted a crowd of people kneeing before a man with a rather ridiculous helmet on.

With a bit more energy, Georgia had the car at a complete stop. "You mind if I throw the car at him?" she asked Maria, who shook her head.

At this point, they had gotten the full attention of Loki. He smirked at them.

"Wait, wait, wait. I can't be seen. Identity, remember?" Georgia said, stopping suddenly before getting out of the car. "Do you have a mask or something?"

Maria shook her head. Georgia glared at her. "I can't do this then. I'm not getting trapped in this world, agent." she hissed.

"Too afraid to come out and face me, then?" Loki called from his spot, standing over the crowd of frightened people. "See? In the end, you will always kneel."

An old man stood up in the crowd. "Not to men like you." he said bravely.

"There are no men like me." Loki answered smugly.

"There are always men like you." the man answered solemnly. Loki grinned sadistically. He seemed ready to make a show of the man, to show the others what he would do to those who would speak out.

"Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example." he said, lowering his glowing scepter.

"Ah, what the hell..." Georgia muttered, and she began conjuring energy to throw the car at Loki. It was levitating off the ground when a streak of red, white, and blue flew in and knocked Loki to the ground. The civilians scattered.

"What do I do? Do I throw the car? Who do I aim for?" Georgia demanded, her eyes beginning to glow an eerie electric blue.

"Just drop it." Agent Hill hissed, and Georgia complied.

"God, that was heavy." she murmured, flexing her arms. "I may have been using my mind, but no matter if it's lifting physically or mentally, it's still a fucking car."

"You know, last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing." he said, and they commenced fighting.

"Oh yeah, just bash on Germany." Georgia mumbled. "Who is this guy?"

"Captain America. He fought in World War II, but ended up frozen for seventy years." Agent Hill explained, and jumped back as Captain America and Loki slammed into the vehicle.

"The soldier, the man out of time." Loki taunted.

"I'm not the one who's out of time." Captain America retorted as a Quinjet appeared.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." a woman's voice said from the aircraft. Loki merely laughed and they continued fighting near to the vehicle.

"Got this." Georgia said, and wires from the S.H.I.E.L.D vehicle emerged from the transmission and wrapped themselves around the Norse god, shocking him violently as she manipulated the car to turn on. He ripped them off but he seemed shaken by the electricity for some reason, though it wasn't that much voltage

Loki's eyes fell on her behind the car as he continued to focus on the soldier. He blasted the man with his scepter, shouting, "Kneel!" It seemed to be said to both of them. He turned and eyed Georgia and Maria.

"Not today!" Captain America shouted back, flipping up and kicing the Norse god down hard.

Suddenly, a red, fiery streak appeared in the sky. Georgia looked up as music began blasting into the air.

A suit of red and gold armor suddenly landed in front of Loki and Captain America.

"Now who's this guy?" Georgia asked, bewildered.

"Iron Man." Maria answered, she seemed relieved that he appeared. He blasted Loki as he landed.

"Make a move, Reindeer Games." he said, weapons appearing from his suit. Loki was cornered. He couldn't run, because he was surrounded by Captain America, Iron Man, and a strange woman who made primitive mortal technology come alive at him. He transformed into his less intimidating form, and kneeled with his hands up.

"Good move." Iron Man said triumphantly.

"Awesome. Let's get this over with." Georgia said sourly as Maria led the way to the aircraft. Soon all five of them were boarded.

Maria sat up front, being the red headed woman's copilot, while Georgia sat in the back by Loki.

Iron Man and Captain America both gave her strange looks.

"Who's this?" Iron Man called up front, pointing at Georgia. "Is she supposed to be here?"

"No, I'm a normal old German civilian who just happened to be able to sneak her way onto a S.H.I.E.L.D aircraft undetected by any of the agents or 'super heroes' aboard." Georgia snapped sarcastically. "I'm Georgia McGuiness. Great to meet you too, fellow Avengers." Iron Man's eyebrows shot up at the name, but he quickly masked it.

"Oh no, I'm not an Avenger." Iron Man said back, looking pointedly at the pilot. "I was deemed volatile, self-centered, and I apparently don't play well with others"

"Interesting." Georgia drawled.

"But my name's Tony Stark." he said, with a grin. "Great to meet you Mrs. McGuiness."

"That's 'Miss.'." she snapped. "But thanks."

"And I'm Steve Rogers. It's wonderful to meet you, ma'am." Captain America said courteously. Georgia gave him a real smile.

"Well, seems like the 'man out of time' still has his manners. Nice to meet you, Steve." she said, being genuinely nice. She turned to Loki. "And I already know who you are, sir. You're the reason I'm caught up in this ordeal. So don't mind me if I'm not all too fond of you at first. I'm sure we'll be great friends in the long run."

Loki didn't answer, he only kept his head down.

After a few moments of silence, Rogers spoke up.

"I don't like it." he said finally, glancing at Loki and then Stark.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Stark replied, and Georgia had to hide her smile.

"I don't remember it ever being that easy. This guy packs a wallop." Steve responded, motioning with his head towards Loki.

Stark shrugged. "Still, you are pretty spry, for an older fellow." he said. "What's your thing? Pilates?"

Steve gave Stark a bewildered look. "What?"

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle." Tony said, eyeing the Captain. It was silent between the two for a moment.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve mumbled, looking away. Stark laughed without humor.

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." he said, shaking his head. "Like our new friend Georgia. Bet you didn't know she was gonna be joining the party either."

Steve glanced at Georgia, who was resting her elbows on her knees with her black curtain of hair masking most of her face. "No, I didn't." he answered.

"Join the club." Georgia mumbled sourly.

After Georgia's words, a crash of lightning sounded above them. Loki turned his eyes to the ceiling nervously.

"What's the matter, scared of a little lightning?" Steve asked Loki.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows..." Loki answered. With that, a huge thump sounded on the roof of the aircraft.

"That wasn't technical difficulties." Georgia confirmed, scanning the craft quickly.

Suddenly, a blonde man appeared, and in the blink of an eye, pulled Loki out of the Quinjet and jumped out of the aircraft towards the ground.

"Perfect." Georgia grumbled. "Who was that guy? Do you 'heroes' like appearing out of nowhere all the time?"

"That was Thor, the Thunder God of Norse mythology." Tony answered easily. "And yes. It has a certain charm to it."

"You give that answer like there's nothing wrong with it." Georgia mumbled regarding his answer about who Thor had been, giving him a strange look.

"Stark! We need a plan of attack!" Steve called as Tony got ready to dive into open space.

"I have a plan: attack!" Stark answered, and dove into the storm after Thor and Loki. Georgia looked to the Captain.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap." the red headed pilot advised.

"I don't see how I can." Steve answered, strapping a parachute onto his back.

"These guys come from legend, Captain. They're basically gods." she continued, looking back at him.

"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Rogers said, before leaping out of the craft after Stark, Loki, and Thor.

Maria and the red headed pilot looked at Georgia, who gave them a bewildered look,

"Don't look at me. I'm not jumping next." she said, crossing her arms and legs as she stared at the place where Steve and Tony had both just disappeared.

* * *

 


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

 

Eventually, Iron Man and Captain America reappeared on the Quinjet. As they entered, Georgia glanced up and found that they had Loki in tow with them, as well as the blonde 'Norse god', Thor.

Georgia noticed the damage in Tony's suit as he entered the area, sitting down across from her with a weary sigh.

Withou his knowledge, she quickly scanned his suit for more information on the damage. There was a large dent in his upper arm, where it seemed somebody had gripped the armor and crushed it. There were also dents on his helmet piece and several areas where the power source was beginning to short circuit, though it wasn't powered by electricity.

When she had finished scanning Stark's suit, she noticed that both Steve and Tony were staring at her strangely.

"What?" she demanded, her voice slightly self conscious.

"Your eyes were glowing blue, ma'am." Rogers said politely, but his voice was slightly wary.

Georgia adverted her eyes. "Yes. They tend to do that when I use my 'powers'." she explained. "I was scanning your suit, Stark. I was going to offer to repair it quickly for you. That crushed arm doesn't exactly look comfortable."

Tony glanced at the dent, then back at Georgia. "Uh, it's okay. I'll get it done when we get to S.H.I.E.L.D's helicarrier." he said, declining.

Georgia shrugged and crossed her arms again. "Fine.  _Don't_  trust a technopath with more degrees in engineering than even you have." she snapped, feeling insulted at his refusal.

She then glanced at Thor. "Oh, where are my manners! God of Thunder, right?" she said to him.

Thor looked surprised. "Yes. I am the Asgardian, Thor, son of Odin." he responded. "And you are?"

"Georgia McGuiness, daughter of Chuck." she responded accordingly. Thor nodded in acknowledgement.

The rest of the trip was spent with Georgia silent, testing out her abilities by constantly scanning the aircraft. She was tempted to fix Stark's suit without his consent or even knowledge, just for practice, but held back. It was his suit, she may be a smartass, but she didn't disrespect a fellow intellectual's inventions.

For some reason, she felt more comfortable using her powers around these people, although she hardly knew them. With a science experiment, two Norse gods, a fellow genius, and two S.H.I.E.L.D spies in the same room, somehow she felt like less of a freak.

The Quinjet arrived on the helicarrier, which was a large, platform-like aircraft. Georgia followed Steve, Tony, Maria, and Natasha into the control room as other S.H.I.E.L.D agents came to escort Loki away.

Georgia suddenly was alone with Agent Hill, as everyone else had gone off to either change out of their suits or attend to other business. Maria led the engineer to Nick Fury, who seemed to be waiting for her.

"Mrs. McGuiness." he said as he shook her hand. "Thank you for cooperating."

"That's 'Miss.'." Georgia snapped, irritated that the mistake had been made twice in less than twenty-four hours. "Divorced, remember?"

"Of course. I apologize for the mistake." Fury said cordially. Georgia was suspicious of his manners towards her, she didn't trust him in the first place, and his strange behavior with trying to get her to help with gamma radiation paired with his host-like attitude wasn't sitting well with her.

"I don't know what game you're playing, Fury." she hissed under her breath as she glanced around at the abundance of agents. "But what I  _do_  know is absolutely nothing about gamma radiation. Yet you track me down and ask me to help track low signatures of gamma radiation... that even S.H.I.E.L.D can't trace on its own. You of all people know what I specialize in."

"I think you'll find that your vast knowledge of technology will be quite helpful in finding the Tesseract." Fury responded, his face a mask of indifference. "We need all the help we can get at this point."

"Then why don't you just get Stark to help with it. He may not have as impressive of a resume as I, but he sure as hell wants to be here more. That guy  _wants_  to be the center of attention.  _I_  want my lab in Stuttgart back and a normal life that doesn't include espionage agencies and mythology come to life." Georgia said, her voice bad tempered.

"Stark will be helping with finding the Tesseract, along with Dr. Banner and yourself." the Director said. "And as soon as the Tesseract is located and freed, you are in the clear to go back to that life, Miss. McGuiness. Until then, we need you. Agent Hill, show Miss. McGuiness to Dr. Banner's lab." With that, Georgia was dismissed and Maria appeared to escort her to the lab in question.

Georgia walked along the hallways of the helicarrier with her teeth grit, though her face betrayed no emotion except for indifference. Inside, she was in a rage. First, Fury mentions her ex husband, and then he dismisses her like a child? Unacceptable.

They reached the lab, and Georgia stepped inside. She felt slightly more at ease with the familiar equipment around. A tall man with greying hair looked up as she entered. His eyes were as dark as hers, but there were premature aging lines surrounding them as well as dark circles. The man looked beat, and Georgia, though irritated, felt a pang of pity for him. As their eyes met from across the room, she felt more of her anger ebb away for some reason.

"Hello, I'm Georgia McGuiness." she said confidently, striding forward with her hand extended. He took it carefully, and shook her hand. "I suspect that you're Doctor Bruce Banner, the one I've been hearing so much about?"

He eyed her a bit before speaking. "Yes, that's me. I hope it's been all... good things you've been hearing." he said carefully.

"Nothing but. For example, I hear you're an expert on gamma radiation and can find this Tesseract." she said, returning her hand to her side. "I find those to be  _remarkably_  good things, considering I know absolutely nothing about any type of radiation. Technical engineers like myself don't often work with radiation, which makes me wonder what exactly I am doing here."

Banner half smiled. "Well the knowledge of an engineer will probably be useful in the long run." he said, glancing sideways at her.

"Yeah, everyone's been telling me that lately, but I'm having a tough time believing them." she drawled, and smiled slightly.

The two glanced up when a band of agents came down the hallways. They were escorting Loki, who seemed completely at ease. He turned his head as they passed, and seemed to be smirking right at Dr. Banner. Georgia gave him her iciest look before straightening up and walking to one of the computers on the other side of the lab.

"So bring me up to speed, Doctor, so I can try and do something to help besides sit here and look pretty." she said, her voice had a sarcastic edge to it. "Where are we in finding the cube?"

"Basically no where. We called all the labs that S.H.I.E.L.D is in contact with and had them put their spectrometers on the roof, calibrating them for gamma rays. I'm roughing out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition, just to rule out a few places." he explained easily.

"Finally, an 'Avenger' who knows what the hell he's talking about." Georgia replied, grinning. "The only thing I can think of for me to do is find a way to get in contact with one of those spectrometers and scan myself, like an add-on."

Bruce looked up, confused. "How would that be possible? For you to scan with a spectrometer?" he asked.

Georgia stared at him for a minute, before realizing that he had no idea that she was a technopath. "Oh, please excuse my rudeness. I'm a technopath." she said, and displayed her power by letting her blue 'electricity' run over her fingers on an outstretched hand. "Sorry, it's not exactly something I use in initial introductions. But since we're  _all_  freaks here, I suppose I should start using it."

Bruce nodded. "Fair enough. I suppose you could try and use any of S.H.I.E.L.D's wireless communicators to connect with the nearest spectrometer."

"I don't know if I can. I can't connect with technology that's far away for very long unless I have a steady connection to it. In other words, not a wireless connection. My mind doesn't work like Wi-Fi for long because there's always interferance. If the ship is over land, however, I might be able to use even a cell phone to connect to the landlines on the ground and follow the electrical currents until I reach one of the labs and thus a spectrometer." Georgia said, leaning on the counter.

Bruce nodded. "You may have something there." he said, and he seemed slightly impressed with her.

"Of course I do. I don't have two masters' degrees and nine bachelor degrees for being bad with technology." she said. "But I'll need a cell phone. I was kind of whisked away before I was able to bring... well, anything."

Bruce shrugged. "I don't have mine, either." he said thoughtfully. "But I think I'll venture a guess and say Tony Stark has his on him."

Georgia smiled. "Perfect. I'll go find him so we can get this show on the road." she said, heading towards the door.

"Wait. Take that, Fury dropped it off for you before you arrived." Bruce said, motioning to the small earpiece on the table next to him. Before he had time to reach it, Georgia had it flying across the room to her hand.

"A communication device." she said, putting it into her ear and turning it on.

"Just in case." Bruce said, shrugging. Georgia shrugged as well as she exited the lab to find Stark.

* * *

 


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

 

"And that man is playing Galaga! He thought we wouldn't notice but we did." Georgia heard a voice from down the hall. It was distorted, but she had a good idea of who it was.

As Georgia entered the room, she found Tony Stark immediately. He was talking to Thor, Natasha, Agent Hill, and Steve. They were all seated around a white table, and they seemed to be kind of distressed about something.

"How does Fury do this?" Stark asked, looking at the monitors in front of him while covering one eye.

"He turns." Agent Hill said dryly.

"Sounds exhausting." Tony retorted, and he slipped his hand under the structure as he walked away. Georgia scanned the area quickly, and found a small decrypting device. She smirked lightly, and said nothing.

When she could see normally again, everyone was looking at her with strange looks. Her eyes, of course, had turned blue when she scanned.

"Okay, is everyone going to stare at me every time that happens? Yes, my eyes turn blue when I connect to technology or use my ability in any way. There's two Norse gods, a super soldier, and a man who runs around in a fully functional mechanical suit of armor also on this aircraft that has the ability to turn basically invisible and is run by an espionage agency made up of spies. I am not the most interesting person here, people!" she said, pursing her lips.

With that, everyone looked down and away.

Captain America cleared his throat. "Thor, what's his play?" he asked.

He has an army, called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." Thor answered, crossing his arms.

"An army. From outer space." Steve said, shaking his head.

Bruce suddenly appeared beside Georgia. "So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." he said.

Thor looked up. "Selvig?" he asked.

"He's an astrophysicist." Bruce answered.

"He's a friend." the Norse god mumbled, looking down.

"Loki has them under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours." Natasha said, her voice turning melancholy when speaking of the S.H.I.E.L.D agent. Georgia glanced at her for a minute, before dismissing her tone of voice.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." Rogers said, glancing around.

" I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him." Bruce said, moving forward to the table. Georgia followed and sat at one of the empty chairs, she smiled slightly at his comment.

"Have a care how you speak! Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard and he is my brother!" Thor said, his voice slightly heated at the insults to his brother.

"He killed eighty people in two days." Romanoff commented coldly.

Thor glanced around. "He's adopted." he admitted.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked.

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Banner responded.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Stark cut in, moving to behind Georgia. She glanced up at him.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet." Bruce answered, seeming amused.

Tony stared at Banner for a minute. "Finally, someone who speaks English." he said happily.

Steve glanced around, confused. "Is that what just happened?" he asked.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." Tony said, shaking the man's hand.

It was Georgia's turn to be confused. Green rage monster? She didn't understand. But then, she never did follow superhero claims.

Bruce smiled softly. "Thanks." he answered ironically.

Nick Fury entered the room. "Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. The same for Miss. McGuiness. I was hoping you might join them." he said, approaching the table.

"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." Steve said, continuing with the discussion of Loki.

Nick Fury looked down at Steve. "I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys." he said sourly.

"Monkeys? I do not understand" Thor said after a pause.

"I do!" Rogers said proudly from his seat. Stark rolled his eyes. "I understood that reference."

Georgia grinned at Steve's behavior. It wasn't hard to believe that he had been frozen for seventy years.

Then, she remembered why she had came here. "Oh, by the way, Stark. I need to borrow your cell phone." Georgia said in the pause of conversation.

He stared at her. "My cell phone? Why, want to look through my texts? Maybe add your number?" he asked, grinning. Georgia rolled her eyes.

"No, Stark. I need it to connect to a spectrometer from up here." she said shortly. "Since I know shit about gamma radiation, it's the best I can do to help. I'm going to scan for the rays myself."

He shrugged. "Sure, fine, cool. Let's just get back to the lab, we can work from there." he said, and Georgia followed Banner and Stark back to their place of work.

When they arrived, Georgia sat on a stool by one of the computers.

"Okay, send a text message to somebody that won't answer right away. If you receive a text message when I'm still connecting with the sent one, the interference will bring me back here and we'll have to start all over." she instructed as he brought out his phone.

He typed something, and got ready to send it. "Just press send when you're prepared." he said, setting it down on the countertop.

"Right-o." Georgia answered. "And do me a favor and at least try not to distract me?"

Tony pretended not to hear her, and she scowled at the back of his head.

She was getting ready to connect with the message, when she heard a small electrical zap from the other side of the room.

She whipped her head around, and glared at Tony. "Did you just shock him?" she demanded. "Real professional."

Tony shrugged. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?" he asked Banner. Georgia rolled her eyes again, and scanned the room, preparing herself.

She hadn't noticed before, but Loki's scepter was on the other side of the room. She cocked her head and scanned it further.

Georgia was surprised when she realized that she could see the gamma radiation emittance flowing off of it. She smiled to herself as she turned back to the cell phone. But As she turned, she noticed the same gamma emittance coming of of Bruce.

"You know, it's really creepy when your eyes are like that." Tony said.

"I'd think you'd be more creeped out by the fact that Dr. Banner turns into... what did you call it? An 'enormous green rage monster'? Yet you are obviously trying to get him to do so." she snapped, turning her eyes on him. As she did, she noticed the arc reactor plate on his chest.

"Why do you have an arc reactor on your chest, Stark?" she asked, her voice losing it's hostility and taking on a more curious tone.

Tony glanced down. "Oh, an accident from way back. I have shrapnel in my chest, and this reactor in my chest is the only thing stopping it from reaching my heart and ultimately killing me." he explained.

"Interesting. So if you pissed me off enough, I could easily shut down your arc reactor. I looking at the wiring right now." she said, smiling.

Stark shrugged. "Sure, if you wanna look at it that way. I prefer to view it as if my arc reactor ever malfunctions, you'd be able to start it right back up."

Georgia smiled wryly. "I thought you didn't want me repairing your inventions, Tony." she said, looking back down at the cell phone, thinking of the ride back on the Quinjet.

He matched her smile. "Not in easy-fix situations like that. But in dire emergencies, I'd like to think of you as my personal, instant AutoZone." he said, grinning wider.

Georgia rolled her eyes. "Great, now I'm a mechanic." she mumbled. "Now if you'll excuse me, Stark. I have tracking to do."

With that, she brought her powers up to speed, and pressed 'Send' on Tony's phone. She instantly connected to the digital message, and followed it down to the power lines.

She followed the electrical currents on the lines, letting go of the text message and heading towards the place where the most electrical currents were heading.

For a while, she coasted. She was partially aware of what was happening in the lab, but her focus was mostly on her scanning job. Captain America had entered, and he seemed to be agitated with Stark.

She was almost to where she believed the lab was located, when she felt someone next to her back in the lab. It was strange, it was like she was two people. It was hard to concentrate on the lab when she was following the power lines. It was hazy, like a dream had in semi-consciousness.

Georgia realized that Steve was about to shake her, possibly, he was worried about her in this state of mind. She began to panic. No one could touch her when she was in that state.

She instantly pulled back, out of the power lines and all the way back to the lab.

"Don't!" she roared, falling out of the stool with the force of her return. She smacked her head as she fell. Her eyes glanced back and forth wildly.

"Nobody. Can touch me. When I'm using. My power. Extensively." she said, her words were said in pauses because of her heaving breaths.

Steve, Tony, and Bruce all stared at her. Steve extended his hand to help her up. She took it, her whole body was shaking as she stood.

"I'm sorry, Miss. McGuiness." he said earnestly. She nodded as she held her head and sat down.

"It's alright, Steve." she said, smiling slightly. "First of all, call me Georgia. All of you. There's too much of this 'Miss. McGuiness' shit here."

"Second of all, when I'm in that state for an extended period of time... which is like more than five minutes... I... Let me put it this way. You know the blue electricity that I emit?" She let a bit of it crackle around her fingers. "That builds up inside of me, like I'm a generator. It gets stronger, and it flies all around my body. It ebbs away when I come back to my right mind, and it doesn't hurt me because my body creates it. But you..."

She put a hand on his arm and let a tiny bit crackle out. Steve pulled back in pain, it had shocked him.

"It hurts everyone else. And that hurt a good amount, although it was just a little, right?" Steve nodded. "Well think of how much it would hurt if you touched me when I'm working with it? A lot. It stays in my body for the most part, but as soon as someone or something else touches me... it all rushes into their body. I don't think that even Captain America could have survived that." she explained, and then fell silent.

All three of them stared at her, she kept her eyes aimed at her black heels. Her cheeks burned red in embarrassment and shame. She could have killed the man because she forgot to warn them.

"Well, it's done now. Nobody got hurt, right?" Tony said from the other side of the room. He walked over to stand next to Steve. Georgia turned her dark eyes up to look at him. "Don't worry about it. We all have our little... quirks. I happen to have shrapnel lodged in my chest and Banner has his anger management issues involving a raging green transformation. You just happen to be a walking electrical outlet. No biggie. We're all just human, after all."

Georgia couldn't help but smile a bit at the irony of Stark's statement. "Sure. All just human." she repeated, sitting back down on her stool.

"Blueberry?" Stark asked, holding out a bag of berries to the woman. She stuck her hand in the bag, popping a few of them in her mouth.

"I should probably try that again." she said through the berries. "You able to control your wandering hands, soldier?"

Steve smiled. "Yes, ma'am." he said. "I have something to get to, anyway." With that, he walked out of the room, his face set and serious.

"Where's he off to?" Georgia asked, handing the phone back to Stark so she could follow yet another text message down to the surface.

"Probably to prove me right. As I always am." Stark answered, typing something. Georgia gave him a questioning look as she took back the phone.

"I have a decryption device going through and opening all of S.H.I.E.L.D's private files to me. In a few hours, I'll know absolutely everything about S.H.I.E.L.D's inner workings." he explained.

"You know I can just... do that, right?" Georgia said, crossing her legs. "And it would be done within minutes."

Tony shrugged. "I like doing things myself." he replied. "If you want to, feel free."

"I have a few more important things to do, actually. Like finding this damned thing." Georgia responded. "But as soon as you have the information, I'll be glad to hear everything you have to offer. You're right not to trust Fury. My presence should make you wary. A technopath brought to an espionage agency for unsteady reasonings? Doubtful that their intentions for me are noble."

With that, Georgia turned back to the cell phone and began the process of finding the spectrometer and ultimately, the Tesseract.

* * *

 


End file.
